Millstone Bakery; Redesign for a Custom Cake Shop

My role

Lead UX designer

UX researcher

UI designer

Responsibilities

UX Audit & Heuristic Evaluation

User Research

Competitive Benchmarking

Information Architecture

Wireframing & UI Design

Prototyping

Visual Design & Branding

Project duration

4 weeks

🧠 Problem & Context

Millstone Bakery, a bakery in North Plano, Texas, had built a strong reputation for its custom cakes and personalized service. However, its digital presence did not reflect the quality or uniqueness of its offerings. The outdated website struggled with usability issues, lacked a cohesive visual identity, and offered no structured process for placing custom orders — all of which led to operational inefficiencies and missed revenue opportunities.

From a business standpoint, the bakery was facing:

Decreased online conversion rates due to friction in the ordering process
High administrative overhead, as most custom orders required manual back-and-forth via email or phone
Limited scalability, since the website wasn’t equipped to handle growing demand or streamline communication

The challenge was not just to redesign a visually appealing interface, but to rethink the entire digital experience — aligning it with customer expectations, supporting the bakery’s growth, and freeing up internal resources.

As the Lead UX Designer and Researcher, I was responsible for driving a human-centered redesign strategy that balanced brand storytelling, usability, and operational needs — ultimately creating a scalable solution that supports both customers and the business.

🎯Project Goal

The primary goal of this project was to transform Millstone Bakery’s website into a user-centric, conversion-driven digital platform that reflects the brand’s premium offering and supports business growth.

From a strategic standpoint, the redesign aimed to:

Streamline the custom order process to reduce manual workload and improve customer experience
Increase online engagement and conversions by making it easier to browse products and services
Establish a cohesive brand identity through consistent visual design and messaging
Improve mobile usability to accommodate on-the-go users
Lay the foundation for future scalability, including new product lines and online payments

The objective was not just a cosmetic redesign, but a holistic experience upgrade — enabling Millstone Bakery to operate more efficiently and better meet the expectations of a modern, digital-first audience.

🔍 Research & Understanding

To ensure the redesign addressed both user needs and business goals, I led a lean but focused research phase using a mix of qualitative and evaluative methods.

Heuristic evaluation

I began with a heuristic audit of the existing website using Nielsen’s 10 usability heuristics. Key issues identified included poor navigation structure, lack of visual hierarchy, missing feedback during interactions, and unclear call-to-actions — all contributing to cognitive overload and drop-offs.

Customer survey

A short survey was sent to 25 recent customers to assess user satisfaction and gather insights on how people discovered the bakery, what they expected to find online, and what stopped them from ordering digitally.
Key findings:
64% of users preferred ordering online but didn’t find the current site intuitive
52% accessed the site via mobile
Users wanted visual galleries of past work and a simple way to start a custom request

Competitive benchmarking

I conducted a comparative review of 5 regional bakery websites and 3 national competitors. This revealed opportunities to differentiate through clear pricing information, interactive product galleries, and simplified ordering flows.

🧭 Design Strategy & Decisions

Based on the research insights, I developed a design strategy that prioritized usability, clarity, and operational efficiency — while also elevating the visual brand identity.

Information Architecture Overhaul

The previous site suffered from scattered content and unclear navigation. I restructured the information architecture to align with user mental models, introducing distinct sections for:

Core offerings (weddings, birthdays, corporate)
Gallery of past work
Custom order request form
FAQs to reduce support inquiries

A simplified top navigation and clear content hierarchy made it easier for users to explore and act.

Guided Custom Order Flow

To reduce email back-and-forth, I designed a step-by-step order request form that guided users through specifying the event type, theme, guest count, dietary needs, and desired delivery/pickup date.

Responsive, Mobile-First Design

With over 50% of traffic coming from mobile devices, I designed all screens mobile-first to ensure accessibility and performance across devices. Special attention was given to tap targets, readability, and image loading.

Visual Brand Refresh

I introduced a warm, minimalist visual style that reflected the artisanal quality of the brand — soft pastel tones, serif headers for a boutique feel, and high-quality imagery. This also established consistency across web and print materials.

🛠️ Key Features

The final solution included set of features designed to streamline the user experience, reduce operational overhead, and support business growth.

1. Interactive Custom Order Form

A structured, multi-step form allowed users to submit detailed custom cake requests — including event type, design preferences, dietary needs, and preferred dates. This feature significantly reduced the back-and-forth communication with customers and brought clarity to the ordering process.

2. Visual Product & Inspiration Gallery

A categorized gallery showcased past projects by cake type (e.g., weddings, birthdays, corporate), helping users discover options and feel confident in the bakery’s craftsmanship.

3. Integrated Testimonials & Social Proof

Selected client quotes and reviews were displayed strategically across the site to build trust and support conversion — particularly on the order and product pages.

4. Dynamic FAQ & Ordering Guide

An expandable FAQ section and a “How to Order” guide addressed the most common user questions, decreasing the need for manual support from the owner.

5. Persistent Contact & Location Access

A fixed footer and a dedicated contact page ensured that users could always access store hours, a map, and contact options without friction.

✏️ Prototyping Process

Once the design strategy and feature set were aligned with user and business needs, I transitioned into prototyping to bring the concepts to life, validate early assumptions, and test key flows before development.

1. Low-Fidelity Wireframes

I began with hand-drawn sketches and grayscale wireframes to quickly map out core pages and key interactions. This included the homepage, gallery, custom order form, and FAQ. These wireframes allowed for early feedback from the bakery owner and were instrumental in aligning expectations.

2. Mid-Fidelity Prototype in Figma

The next iteration was built in Figma, focusing on layout structure, content flow, and interaction points. At this stage, I tested page hierarchy, navigation clarity, and content legibility. I also started defining reusable components for consistency across the site.

3. High-Fidelity Prototype with Branding

Once the structure was validated, I applied the visual design — including typography, color palette, imagery, and UI components. The final prototype closely mirrored the end product and was used to conduct usability tests and handoff to the developer.

4. Interactive User Flows

I built two clickable flows in Figma:

Browsing and selecting a product from the gallery
Submitting a custom cake order request

These flows were used during testing and stakeholder reviews to simulate real-world scenarios and ensure that the experience was intuitive and frictionless.

🧪 Testing & Impact

o ensure the design met user expectations and business goals, I conducted targeted usability testing followed by qualitative feedback sessions. The insights directly informed refinements and validated core decisions.

Usability Testing

Participants: 5 target users, primarily individuals who had previously ordered custom cakes or were interested in doing so.
Method: Remote, moderated testing using the high-fidelity Figma prototype.
Scenarios:
- Find inspiration for a wedding cake.
- Submit a custom cake order.
- Locate store hours and contact details.

Key Results

100% of users were able to complete both core tasks without external help.
Users praised the clarity of the custom order form, reducing confusion around what information to provide.
Navigation was rated “very easy” by 4 out of 5 participants.
One user suggested adding more images of past cakes — this feedback led to an expanded gallery section before launch.

Business & User Impact

Owner feedback: “The new site makes my life easier. Customers come to me more informed and ready to order.”
Improved trust: Testimonials and gallery increased perceived professionalism, based on user interviews.

Figma prototype

Click here for the Desktop prototype

🙌 Reflection

This project was a valuable opportunity to drive end-to-end UX design for a small business with very real, immediate needs. It allowed me to balance user-centered design with tight resource constraints and fast decision cycles.

What I Learned

Clear scope makes for focused impact: With a limited feature set, prioritization was essential. I learned how to identify what truly matters for both users and business, and deliver just that.
Even simple solutions can transform workflows: Designing a custom order form may seem basic, but in this context, it significantly improved the bakery’s efficiency and customer experience.

What I’d Improve Next Time

More formal user research: While we relied on quick user interviews and testing, a more structured discovery phase could have uncovered deeper insights, especially about returning customers.
Analytics integration planning: I would include planning for success metrics and post-launch analytics from the start to better track usage patterns and conversion over time.

This project reminded me that good UX doesn’t always require complex systems — clarity, empathy, and thoughtful structure can make a measurable difference, even in small-scale digital products.

Pegah Mirzadeh